We continued the college tour season with a trip to Vassar. A nice tour to a beautiful campus. It is several miles upland from the Hudson River. Our next stop was in Catskill, NY to show Sue the "Cats" that inhabit its streets. These are some special cats in a nice port town well positioned on the Hudson with good boatyards capable of raising or lowering masts for those heading to the canals or to the sea. These cats do seem to welcome visitors.
Sara-- Last weekend all four of us piled into the car with enough chips, crackers, and clothes for four days aboard the Lucy III. And armed, of course, with a Harry Potter audiobook read by the ever-amazing Jim Dale in hopes of keeping boredom at bay for the next six hours of claustrophobic car-time, we zoomed away from security and luxury– into the thrillingly vulnerable and spontaneous world of boating.
Sick of each other, my sister and I jumped out of the car the moment we arrived in Clayton, NY, grabbed our bags, and ran through the rainy dusk to the bath house where we waited, brushing our teeth, watching Disney Channel, and playing checkers, until my dad urged us back out into the miserable, still-raining dark and into the dinghy where we waited, wet, while my dad guided my mom by flashlight into the small vessel, hopped in himself, and motored us off into rough waters and unyielding torrents of heavenly tears.
Here, soaked and unable to run to warmth and comfort, completely at the mercy of Nature, I realized I had a choice: despair of joy? The former seemed so easy, an old friend. All I had to do was succumb to the surrounding darkness, to allow it to drench me in pathetic self-sorrow. But then I remembered the movie “How to Deal”and how, gazing up at the raining sky, Mandy Moore flung her arms back and rejoiced in abandoning herself to Infinity. It was one of those cathartic moments that always happen in movies but rarely take place in real life, and I've always wanted to experience that moment of letting go, of rejoicing at the beautiful and terrible incomprehensibility, the nonsensicality, of Nature, of everything, of life. And so, patting my singing sister (she didn't seem to be having a conflict!) on the back, I looked up undefiantly, lovingly at Eternity, and laughed.
The next day, though too windy and rough to travel by lake or river, we sipped hot chocolate and ate at Koffee Kove before driving to Alexandria Bay where we encountered music in the streets as well as many drunkards (they were having a Blues festival), tourists, and, just when we were thinking of returning to the boat, an Amish man! He was selling quilts, jelly, and cookies (the latter two of which we purchased and soon devoured with the shameless enjoyment of a gourmand; the raspberry jelly was really extraordinarily delicious!).
When we finally did motor the Lucy III out of her harbor on Sunday morning we were all glad to go. During our trek over to the Canadian 1000 Islands, Mom and I steered a bit (while Steph, ever the procrastinator– and a perfectionist too– began obsessing over her summer school work due in less than a week) but had to hand the wheel over to Dad when it came to docking. We enjoyed a short visit to the village of Gananoque to clear Customs, sip some excellent hot chocolate, and see a few shops before moving on to the Parks Canada Islands. A little boy ran up to catch our lines and, we had arrived at Mermaid Island! (Later, because at our position at the end of the dock where we would have rolled stomach-churningly all night, Dad managed to maneuver the boat over a chain and around rocks until we were situated between the dock and the island, ensuring the comfort of our stomachs.)
Return to Mermaid Island, Parks Canada.Marc-- Stephanie and I were the first to take the plunge into the crystal clear waters. Sara and I later explored, rather jogged around a neighboring Island called Aubrey that had a 1 mile trail loop. We tied to the Park dock only to find that it's current inhabitants remembered us from our visit to Kingston, Ontario two years ago. Running on forest trail, often with water views, was fun and we did manage to mix up the trail sequence a bit to keep it interesting. The earth gives back a certain bounce here as you trod along, so very different from running on the pavement back home.
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